Training cats question

[stephanier.1765]

Years ago, after several nights of kitty arguments, we trained our cats to go to different rooms for the night. 2 go to human occupied bedrooms, while 3 get to remain in the main part of the house. When a cat is sitting or standing on their spot, they get treats. It's been working great until semi recently when one of the cats has practically started screaming in anticipation of her treats. In hindsight, I should have addressed that immediately because some of the other cats eventually took up copying her. I tried giving the other cats their treats first and then working with her, only rewarding her when she was quiet. Unfortunately, since she is one of the cats in the main part of the house, that meant the other two would finish their treats and then run over and steal hers when she finally earned them. So, I switched it around and started working with her first. Ugh, that only caused the remaining two cats in the room to start to get frustrated and anxious for their treats and begin the loud meowing. Am I fighting a losing battle? Is there any way to teach this cat to not scream for treats without causing chaos for the other two? The screaming is so loud it's like a nail down a chalkboard to me. Training all 5 cats to go to their spots was way easier than teaching one cat to not scream.

[Clarita]

20 minutes ago, stephanier.1765 said:

Am I fighting a losing battle? Is there any way to teach this cat to not scream for treats without causing chaos for the other two? The screaming is so loud it's like a nail down a chalkboard to me. Training all 5 cats to go to their spots was way easier than teaching one cat to not scream.

Yes and no. 

One way I've been successful getting my screaming cat to pipe down is to train her to do a different action for food. Sitting is an "easy" one.

Sitting: Hold the treat in your hand and when the cat looks at you with anticipation move the treat toward her while holding it above her head. As she watches the treat she should naturally get into sitting position. Speed is key too slow and she may just walk around to put the treat back in front of her face. Too fast and there isn't time for her to sit. 

FWIW I feed my screamer cat first. If you have other family members to help you during treat time then try and do her treats around the same time as the other cats. I'll say after training the screaming has improved, but if I take too long there is still going to be screaming. 

[Clarita]

Reference on how fast/slow to move the treat.

[stephanier.1765]

@Clarita Thank you so much! I can't wait to give this a try tonight.

[stephanier.1765]

@Clarita This was the best advice! Last night was the fastest I've ever gotten her to stop screaming. Usually I'm waiting on her to pause in her racket so I can reward a quiet moment but some days that can take awhile and I'm not sure she was associating being quiet with reward anyways. She usually lies down on her spot (a throw rug) while waiting for her treats so to get her up in order to get her to sit, I did the trick of enticing her to turn around. At that point, I was able to get her to look up and, as soon as I put the treats above her head, she sat and she sat quietly. Wow, that worked so well! Thank you!